NEW ORLEANS—The Nokia Lumia 900 is winning over AT&T sales people, Nokia's U.S. president Chris Weber said Tuesday, but he wouldn't commit to trying to claim any new territory soon. After all, they're selling Lumias faster than they can make them.
"Demand has been outstripping supply for the first couple of weeks, and we've been working hard to rectify that," he said. "The demand for cyan [phones] is significantly outpacing supply. When you give people something different from a design perspective—colors, etc. —it really stands out, and consumers want that."
Weber's checking in on sales personally, he told PCMag here at the International CTIA Wireless conference. The Nokia executive has spent the past four weekends at AT&T stores, seeing how salespeople approach his product, he said.
"Generally, we're seeing very good support. It's a work in progress," he said.
The Lumia phones are getting good reviews in stores for Nokia's collection of exclusive apps (like ESPN and PGA Tour), the colorful design, and the phones' value for money, he said. (Check out our companion story for more on Nokia's new exclusive apps.)
Still, Windows Phone isn't growing very quickly. Even though the OS got great satisfaction ratings in PCMag's Readers' Choice Awards, Windows Phone notched just 1.7 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the latest Nielsen stats, behind even 4.1 percent share held by the now-obsolete Windows Mobile 6.
Adding carriers—especially CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless—could help Nokia's growth. Weber said he's working on that.
"We're not making any announcements, but we understand the importance of Verizon and we're working hard to make that a reality," he said.
Nokia's future is also clouded by the mysteries surrounding the upcoming Windows Phone 8, also known as "Apollo." While carriers such as Sprint and Cricket expressed enthusiasm over Windows Phone 8 at this show, Microsoft and Nokia won't admit it exists—which means they can't tell Lumia owners whether they'll be able to upgrade their phones. WP8 has been predicted to come out this September or October.
"Both Nokia and Microsoft understand the importance for consumers to keep their devices fresh and updated. Without any announcements being made, we're working to make sure people have fresh and updated experiences on any device they may have," Weber said.
In the meantime, U.S. phone buffs will soon be able to get hold of the PureView 808, Nokia's 41-megapixel camera phone. While the phone won't be picked up by a U.S. carrier, it'll be AT&T-compatible and sold unlocked here, according to Weber.
"We'll figure out a way to make that available in the U.S. in the next couple of months," he said.
For more from CTIA, check out the photoblog below.